ArticleBMJ global health2021
Stark choices: exploring health sector costs of policy responses to COVID-19 in low-income and middle-income countries.
Article in BMJ global health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 45 citations in OpenAlex.
- Health impact and cost-effectiveness of COVID-19 booster vaccination strategies in the early post-Omicron era: a dynamic modelling study.BMJ global health · 2025Article
- Optimizing TB policies using the global TB portfolio model: an economic analysis.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025Article
- Stewarding COVID-19 health systems response in Pakistan: what more can be done for a primary health care approach to future pandemics?BMJ global health · 2025Review
- A cost-effectiveness analysis of Molnupiravir and Paxlovid for outpatient treatment of COVID-19 in three African countries.Journal of public health in Africa · 2025Article
- High-cost users still came to hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic during first wave data in Thailand: secondary data analysis.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Cost-effectiveness of COVID rapid diagnostic tests for patients with severe/critical illness in low- and middle-income countries: A modeling study.PLoS medicine · 2024Article
- The economic impact of a COVID-19 illness from the perspective of families seeking care in a private hospital in India.Dialogues in health · 2023Article
- Do private health providers help achieve Universal Health Coverage? A scoping review of the evidence from low-income countries.Health policy and planning · 2023Article
- Catastrophic health expenditure during the COVID-19 pandemic in five countries: a time-series analysis.The Lancet. Global health · 2023Article
- Scaling Up TB Screening and TB Preventive Treatment Globally: Key Actions and Healthcare Service Costs.Tropical medicine and infectious disease · 2023Article
- Assessing the impacts of COVID-19 vaccination programme's timing and speed on health benefits, cost-effectiveness, and relative affordability in 27 African countries.BMC medicine · 2023Article
- Essential emergency and critical care as a health system response to critical illness and the COVID19 pandemic: what does it cost?Cost effectiveness and resource allocation : C/E · 2023Article
- Standardising policy and technology responses in the immediate aftermath of a pandemic: a comparative and conceptual framework.Health research policy and systems · 2023Article
- What, how and who: Cost-effectiveness analyses of COVID-19 vaccination to inform key policies in Nigeria.PLOS global public health · 2023Article
- Out-of-pocket expenditure and catastrophic costs due to COVID-19 in Indonesia: A rapid online survey.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
- Is there a role for RDTs as we live with COVID-19? An assessment of different strategies.BMJ global health · 2023Article
- Population-Level Strategies for Nirmatrelvir/Ritonavir Prescribing-A Cost-effectiveness Analysis.Open forum infectious diseases · 2022Article
- COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance and Its Determinants among Myanmar Migrant Workers in Southern Thailand.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Modelling how face masks and symptoms-based quarantine synergistically and cost-effectively reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmission in Bangladesh.Epidemics · 2022Article
- Exploring equity in health and poverty impacts of control measures for SARS-CoV-2 in six countries.BMJ global health · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
21 authors at 5 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesCOVID-19 has altered health sector capacity in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). Cost data to inform evidence-based priority setting are urgently needed. Consequently, in this paper, we calculate the full economic health sector costs of COVID-19 clinical management in 79 LMICs under different epidemiological scenarios.
methodsWe used country-specific epidemiological projections from a dynamic transmission model to determine number of cases, hospitalisations and deaths over 1 year under four mitigation scenarios. We defined the health sector response for three base LMICs through guidelines and expert opinion. We calculated costs through local resource use and price data and extrapolated costs across 79 LMICs. Lastly, we compared cost estimates against gross domestic product (GDP) and total annual health expenditure in 76 LMICs.
resultsCOVID-19 clinical management costs vary greatly by country, ranging between <0.1%-12% of GDP and 0.4%-223% of total annual health expenditure (excluding out-of-pocket payments). Without mitigation policies, COVID-19 clinical management costs per capita range from US$43.39 to US$75.57; in 22 of 76 LMICs, these costs would surpass total annual health expenditure. In a scenario of stringent social distancing, costs per capita fall to US$1.10-US$1.32.
conclusionsWe present the first dataset of COVID-19 clinical management costs across LMICs. These costs can be used to inform decision-making on priority setting. Our results show that COVID-19 clinical management costs in LMICs are substantial, even in scenarios of moderate social distancing. Low-income countries are particularly vulnerable and some will struggle to cope with almost any epidemiological scenario. The choices facing LMICs are likely to remain stark and emergency financial support will be needed.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.